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Canadian Political Science Association reception

Our set of meeting in Ottawa has been much of the same we experienced during orientation week: many different perspectives, a full schedule and a lot of interest in our position as interns. We were often on the “Hill” meeting with members of every political party, legislative staff, policy staff and also a visit to the Supreme Court of Canada.
For me, the Canadian Political Science Association reception on Friday evening was a welcome return to academia. I was actually able to catch up with one of my thesis supervisors, Dr. Boychuk, of the University of Waterloo at the reception! Thinking back to this summer of working through my thesis concerning indigenous health policy, and now being involved in legislation and projects at Queen’s Park, has given me a much different perspective on how politics work. This is also what the members of the CPSA were very interested to hear about our experiences and what has surprised us about working at the Ontario Legislature. For me, after spending time during my undergrad at the Nova Scotia Legislature, I was surprised that in Ontario there does not seem to be very much collegiality among members of different parties. But maybe it’s because the election year is approaching!
The evening was also an opportunity for us to talk to our federal counterparts, from the Parliamentary Internship Program (also known as the PIPs). Aside from the group being completely bilingual, we had very similar experiences of working with our politicians. Our time in Ottawa ended too quickly, but we were all eager to return to Toronto for the last week of the House sitting at Queen’s Park before the holidays!